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16 NAPIER MAIL, JANUARY 23, 2013
NEWS
Original port plans split community
Old portfolio: Photograph by W H Neal of the Breakwater Port taken from Bluff Hill on February 10, 1899. Glasgow
Wharf and the partially completed breakwater running towards Auckland Rock are visible.
Photo: HAWKE'S BAY MUSEUMS TRUST
'
Friends and enemies were
said to be made throughout the
town depending on an
individual's preference for one
plan or another.
'
31 quake
the decider
The Port of Napier might run like
clockwork now, but trying to
decide where to put it caused
serious conflict within the Napier
community, says Hawke's Bay
Museum and Art Gallery collec-
tion assistant Evan Greensides.
The choice was between
expanding the dredging of Ahuriri
Lagoon or building a breakwater
port near Bluff Hill, both at con-
siderable expense.
The lengthy conflict, which div-
ided the growing town of Napier,
is well documented within our col-
lection through detailed maps and
heated opinion pieces. In the end
the issue was resolved by natural
forces,'' said Mr Greensides.
In the late 1800s, Napier had a
choice: A suitable coastline for a
breakwater harbour, and a shel-
tered natural harbour away from
the open ocean.
A public vote taken in 1885
showed 96 percent of ratepayers
favoured borrowing money to
build a breakwater harbour.
While those ships [too big to]
enter the inner harbour unloaded
from the roadstead quite safely,
the need for a deep water harbour
had been highlighted in 1887 by
the fatal beaching of the North-
umberland and Boojum while
unloading goods near Westshore.
While work was undertaken
after this tragedy, storms in 1894
and 1896 lashed the partially
completed breakwater harbour
causing considerable damage and
forcing the harbour board to
redirect what little money it had
left to repairing the damage.''
By 1905 a report by Charles Ell-
ison showed public opinion had
swayed towards developing the
inner harbour, as the breakwater
costs continued to spiral.
The [interim] fate of it was
determined by regional poll in
February 1909, with a slim
majority voting against accepting
a new loan to complete the work.''
An entirely new plan submitted
by George Nelson utilised only the
inner harbour. It envisaged dredg-
ing more than 1.5 million yards of
material from the area.
Reclaimed harbour board land
would be sold to finance the work.
Although the new concept
appeared favourable, it was not
long before furious debate ensued.
Engineers contracted in by the
board to assess the feasibility of
plans led the opposition.
They claimed Mr Nelson had
manipulated data, claiming that
the inner harbour bottom was soft
ground that could be easily
dredged when in reality it was
hard rock that would cost three
times that estimated by Nelson to
move.
Friends and enemies were said
to be made throughout the town
depending on an individual's
preference for one plan or another.
However, where the citizens
and harbour board could not
decide, Mother Nature intervened
decisively,'' Mr Greensides said.
The February 1931 Hawke's
Bay earthquake raised the inner
harbour bed to a point where
draining and reclaiming the land
for alternative uses was more
feasible than dredging the hard
bottom to turn it into a port.
The inner harbour idea was
finally shelved and construction of
the breakwater port continued
apace.
The area that was once such a
contentious issue for the people of
Napier is now home to flocks of
grazing sheep and a more modern
form of transport, the aeroplane.''
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Phone 835 9865
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